Concentrate on Teaching not on Income

Today's Spectator Op-Ed piece links success in education to material wealth. Is this a variation of
the Residential Schools? Do the "poor" not value education? Are schools not important to our communities?
Invest in our local community schools and show that all of our citizens are valued both rich and poor. Looking
at the economic consequences of school closures we can see now how the HWDSB's actions over the last
decade have contributed to our decline. Our recent resurgence is now threatened by another 11 closings. The
most troubling closure will be Parkview Community School, home to our most vulnerable special
needs students in the heart of Ward 3. The HWDSB has begun to dismantle the school while the students are
still in class; marking the assets for distribution upon closure. Is this the concern that the wealthy have for
the education of the "less fortunate?"
If only the poor were rich.
Gary Santucci
Hamilton, Ontario

Quote from the Article
"In our schools, the Spec's recent series on EQAO scores showed sizeable differences between neighbourhoods in
literacy and numeracy, much of which can be attributed to concentrated poverty. You can't teach your way out of the
problems created by high-poverty schools, and we can draw on lessons from elsewhere to use all available means
intentionally to create mixed income schools.
In the longer term, we need to use planning tools such as inclusionary zoning to ensure the mix of households in our
neighbourhoods is more balanced. It will take time, but can be achieved, and will have an impact on other challenges,
like the concentration of group homes in some neighbourhoods. The social mix of some lower city neighbourhoods is
already changing, but other deliberate actions will be needed to reduce segregation."
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4531380-a-decade-of-focused-action-will-deliver-for-hamilton/